Columbus (CA 74) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 118 text:

Soaring through the 1952 Softball season in the Medi- terranean Sixth Fleet, COLUMBUS ' gallant nine came through with record shattering momentum to set a stand- ard for future teams that can be expected to remain un- paralleled for a long, long time. Winning 18 games of which 14 were consecutive and suffering only one heartbreaking loss; that by the indecisive score of 1-0 rendered by the competent team members of the USS ENGLISH, COLUMBUS earned a title of honor to be respected by all. To the said mishap that was the USS ENGLISH we need only remark, either they were very good, or else they were very lucky. Navigated by the skillful minds of Armstrong and Johnston, COLUMBUS looked as good on the diamond as she does on the sea. The greatest captains in the world cannot run a ship-shape team without a ship-shape crew, and the boys who whipped the pants off the finest teams of the finest fleet were just that. Starting with Kromer and Castiglia sharing the honors at first base, Massey ruling second and Mearns covering third, a hot kid cooling a hot corner, the one, two and three made it look just as easy as 1,2, and 3. At shortstop: Covering a lot of territory in a little time we watched our own Mr. Shortstop, Tony Armstrong, play a wonderful game all season long. In the outfield with a motto of Send em, we ' ll snatch ' em we saw Albunio at left, making it look just right, Tron and Hen- drickson filling the right field bill alternately with all the aptitude that right field needs doing in making the team the great team it was, and in center, covering the area with as much ease as we might cover our own back pocket, Beattie, there to make sure that for the other team there was no such thing as a successful centerfield hit. On the pitcher ' s mound with a flip and a whirl that had our opponents thinking they were blind, hurled .the COLUMBUS pride — Pop Warner, winding up and run- ning out for a perfect season without one pitching loss. Running up with one loss came Simmons, who, though he had the hard luck to fliag against the USS ENGLISH, flung no less perfectly; the one game he lost was a one-hitter. Behind the plate and covering home was Fearless Flaherty and Vicious Vaughn who had the opposing team so scared that even if they did get more than a triple they were afraid to run past third base . For the highlight game of the year we chose the thrashing that was dealt to the American Community School at Beirut, Lebanon. They came out to play as haughty and as boastful as major leaguers bringing with them plenty of taunts and brags. They went home humble and quiet as mice bringing back with them a defeat that read, 18-1 . One word for our own private doctor, who pitched in with his scalpel when it was needed and who was not found wanting when it came to pitching in with his bat when that was needed too. Thanks, Freddie Mills. Nice going boys. You pushed COLUMBUS to the top in another field.